hunt and j



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

W. HUNT AND J. TOWNSEND, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ICE BOAT FOR BREAKING ICE AND FACILITATING NAVIGATION IN THE WINTERSEASON.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 958, dated October 3, 1838.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that we, WALTER I-IUNT and JACOB TowNsEND, both of the city,county, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved plan ofmachinery to be applied to boats and vessels and designed for breakingiceV and facilitating the navigation of rivers, lakes, bays, Sto., in'the winter sea-son; andwe do hereby declare, that the following isafull and exact description.

The first and `principal machine in the above plan is a cylinder (seeletter A Figure 2 in the annexed drawing), with its periphery and ends,armed with strong iron hooked and wedged shaped teeth, about one foot inheight and depth upon thebase, and some two inches in thickness (seeletters D, D, D, D Fig. 2). The cylinder, which ,may be made of wood inthe usual manner, and the teeth fastened on the periphery by means ofstrong hoops binding over flanges cast upon the base of the saine (seeletters F, F, F, F,)

4or it may be formed entirely of iron, cast in rings or zones, andunited in a similar manner to iron water pipes or otherwise, is to besuspended horizontally in front, and supported upon end ,gudge ons,revolving in strong iron arms aixed to the sides of the same at theirback end, by means of heavy iron bolts passing through brackets into theboats side timbers in. the strongest manner. These arms are furthersupported at the forward ends near the bearings of the cylinder by meansof stirrups or yokes, that fall down astride the ends of a strong beamsituated across the bows of the boat (see Gr Fig. l). The arms H IIpassing through the slots in said yokes are raised and depressed bymeans of upright screws or otherwise working through the tops of saidyokes, with their feet resting in steps on the ends of the beam G.

Though not essential to our plan, we have in our model adopted the twinboat, with a paddle wheel in the center, the outside rim of which iscogged at I Fig. l, into which gears pinion P on the shaft of the flywheel, by which means the power is communicated to the paddle wheel I,and from thence to the cylinder A, by a chain band or bands passing overspurs upon the same at K, or otherwise the power may be communicatedfrom the engine as usual by means of cranks upon the shaft of the paddlewheel.

To prevent the accumulation of ice upon the paddle wheel and cylinder,they can be housed upon their upper sections into which the exhauststeam and smoke may be discharged. The periphery of the cylinder in itsrotation may travel somewhat faster than the paddle wheel in order thatthe boat may not be forced upon the ice any faster than its path may becleared.

If necessary, stern and side cylinders may be added, and the whole orpart moved by gearing bands or otherwise.

The teeth D, D, D, D, should range spirally around the cylinder in themanner of a right and left hand screw. from the center (see Letter A) inorder that they may take alternate effect upon the ice, their sharp endsstriking rst in the manner of an adze upon the edge of the broken ice,chipping it off in fragments without allowing the body.

of the cylinder to come in contact with the solid ice; by thisarrangement it willbe seen that the principal force of the engine may beexerted upon each tooth singly at the moment of contact, and theresistance of the ice will in a measure aid in propelling the boat incase the cylinder is not immersed to its center, in which case it maynot be necessary to put ext-ra heads upon the journals of the cylinderon the outside of the arms as represented in figure.

In this invention we conne our claims to the use and application ofrevolving Vcylinders with teeth or spurs upon their outer surfaces to beattached to boats and vessels; said cylinder being suspended upon arms,and the whole constructed substantially in the manner and for thepurposes as hereinabove set forth.

New York Septemberv 18th 1838.

WALTER HUNT. JACOB TOwNsEND.

Witnesses:

S. O. BENNETT, WM. L. MORRIS.

